Flowering Now - April 2009

[gote]

Some more flowers.
Ypsilandra thibetica is tricky in my place. Late frosts kill the flowers. this is the first time there are any flowers to speak about. It is not only very early but also scented.
The pink striped Helleborus thibetanus is flowering for the first time. My Other thibetanus did noylike the spring and will set no seed - nor will this one.
Anemone altaica on the other hand liked the winter and spring It is smaller than nemorosa and sturdier and much earlier.
Bulbocodium/colchicum vernum is quite good. This colour is fairly unique at this time of the year at leas in my place. I do have a Merendera sobolifera that also has this color this time of the year but it is so much smaller.
This is such a busy time. Garden work, flowers, photos - all in a mix
Göte
 

[David Nicholson]

A couple of Lewisia tweedyi.

The first is one I grew from seed and is around five years old now. If I had a bit more greenhouse space it would be a better plant as it tends to get put in a corner and forgotten about.



The second is one of two L. tweedyi I bought from the Plant Shop at Wisley a couple of years ago with the idea of crossing them with my plant to get some different colour breaks.

 

[Lampwick]

Three more portraits for your perusal. 

The Daphne propagates easily from cuttings, which I take in May/June, I have it in several locations around the garden, as my wife, my two daughters and I adore the scent of these plants.

The Tiarella is not actually “in flower”, but I think many plants sometimes have an equal attractiveness in bud, (as shown here) or in their seed heads……Don’t they?    
 
The Vitaliana has doubled in size since last spring, this is growing in a raised ercicaceous bed in almost pure Cambark. These beds have recently received a liberal top-dressing of Melcourt fine composted bark, bought from Ashwoods. 
 

[Lampwick]

The Jeffersonia isn’t in the best position, but I do believe they don’t like being disturbed.
What is the preferred method of propagation please?

We had to pack Jeffersonia dubia bare rooted in compost to satisfy DEFRA when we moved here. They settled in, but didn't flower the year after. They also grow well from fresh seed in my experience.
Simon

Thanks Simon, I will look for seeds after flowering.

[ChrisB]

David,  How do you get such great big 'in your face' flowers on lewisias?  There were so many like that at the Cleveland Show last weekend, Mine are only  a fraction of the size.

John,  that daphne is just super, bet the scent is intoxicating!

[Sinchets]

Flowering earlier this evening on the xeric garden -Matthiola anchonifoilum- you gotta love nature's little oddities. 

[David Nicholson]

David,  How do you get such great big 'in your face' flowers on lewisias?  There were so many like that at the Cleveland Show last weekend, Mine are only  a fraction of the size.

Haven't a clue Chris  I think the tweedyi flower is always larger than a L. cotyledon flower for example so I'm on a 'runner' there to start with. I always keep it a little bit moist when it is resting and when I start watering, in early February if the weather is good, it gets a half strength tomato fertiliser feed at every watering. Having said that, I too gloat over some of the L. tweedyi examples I see at the Shows.

[David Nicholson]

Some cracking stuff being posted here today folks. My 'Wants List' has been greatly expanded.

[ChrisB]

OK, David, I'll get some tomato feed, but I doubt my little beauties will ever get flowers that big on them.  Never mind, I still love them.  One of the ones I grew from the seed you kindly sent me two years ago has so many flower buds it is going to expire I'm sure.  The newer ones I bought look very small and demure in comparison.

[Maggi Young]

Lewisia tweedyi flower size varies almost as much as the colour does. Thing to do is look for two with big, full-petalled blooms and cross them... it is possible quite quickly to get a strain with lovely fat flowers..... we had fun with this very project some years ago, seeking to produce large, up facing blooms with full, over-lapping petals... up to a dozen or fourteen per flower.... gorgeous fat girls!  All gone now except the one which lives a feral existence between the greenhouse glass and the back of the plunge.

[Lvandelft]

The Vitaliana has doubled in size since last spring, this is growing in a raised ercicaceous bed in almost pure Cambark. These beds have recently received a liberal top-dressing of Melcourt fine composted bark, bought from Ashwoods. 

John, now that is a beautiful plant. I have seldom seen such a rich flowering Vitaliana (here), but reading your
cultural method I maybe understand why

[Lampwick]

The Vitaliana has doubled in size since last spring, this is growing in a raised ercicaceous bed in almost pure Cambark. These beds have recently received a liberal top-dressing of Melcourt fine composted bark, bought from Ashwoods. 

John, now that is a beautiful plant. I have seldom seen such a rich flowering Vitaliana (here), but reading your
cultural method I maybe understand why

Hello Luit, 
Take a look at the bottom of this page: http://portraitsofalpineplants.com/Portraits%20of%20Alpine%20Plants.htm which shows how big it was last year. It’s wedged tightly between two rocks, and I would estimate that only about 1/10th of the underside of the plant is in contact with the compost, the majority of it has spread over the rocks. Am I right in stating that it is a crevice dweller in its native home?
  

[Sinchets]

Screes, rocky stony places and short turf on acid soils, John.

[Lvandelft]

John, it must be the combination of big stones keeping the ericaceous soil cool (and may be some luck ??    )
I never saw it in nature, but I visited many gardeners and nurseries (mostly  continental) but saw it always
shy flowering.
I remember just once when I visited a German nursery where they were grown in 12 cm pots and they
were all full of flowers. I ordered several hundreds and sold them all, but in the next year in the same nursery
they had almost no flowers and in the following 10+ years it was the same. So the man had to give up, because
Vitaliana without flowers don't sell.

[Lesley Cox]

Some older alpine gardenening books (from the days when it was known as Douglasia, then Androsace) talk about different forms which are stongly or poorly flowering. I always assumed I had a poorly flowering form because it certainly has never performed like that. But I saw plants at higher altitude and with a colder winter than mine, flowering in NZ last year, edge to edge yellow. Most likely all our plants are from the same source originally so it's probably the culture that has been at fault for the "poor" forms. I'll shift mine to cooler, acid soil and place flat rocks around it.